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<br /> <br />Rocky Mountains, about 140 days on the Great Plains, and about <br />180 days in the Interior Highlands. <br /> <br />BIOLOGICAL AND ESTHETIC CHARACTERISTICS <br /> <br />Terrestrial Bioloqical Resources <br /> <br />Ecosystems of the Missouri River Basin were originally <br />dominated by grasslands in the prairies and plains region, and.by <br />forests, shrublands, mountain grasslands, and alpine tundra in <br />the mountainous regions. Gallery forests have developed along <br />the major rivers and streams, especially in the Middle Missouri <br />and Lower Missouri subbasins. During the last few years many <br />grasslands of the plains and prairie region have been converted <br />to cropland where soils, topography, and climate favorable to <br />farming exist. Although river bottomland forests in many parts <br />of the basin have been eliminated or have deteriorated, many <br />still afford key habitat for native plants and animals. Sizable <br />acreages of natural grasslands also persist in several areas. <br />The shrubland, woodland, and forest land of the mountains have <br />not been subjected to the disturbances such as those which have <br />occurred on the prairies and retain more of their natural <br />characteristics. <br /> <br />Native plants and animals in the Missouri River Basin have <br />been exposed to a succession of changing environments in the <br />geological past, and only a few known endemic species have <br />managed to survive the extremes of the ice age. Many species <br />which survived the glaciers were forced to migrate or were <br />subsequently exposed to disturbances caused by man. As a result, <br />some became extinct, others lost most of their habitat. <br /> <br />Big game animals such as moose, elk, deer, Rocky Mountain <br />goats, big horn sheep, and grizzly and black bears, continue to <br />inhabit the basin. Also, a nearly extinct species, the native <br />bison, has made a comeback thrOugh development and management of <br />herds on private and public lands. <br /> <br />Small game are in abundant supply in most basin States, <br />although the white-tailed jackrabbit is now nearly extinct in <br />Missouri, Kansas, and parts of Nebraska. Upland game birds tend <br />to be scarce, with the exception of mountain grouse in <br />mountainous western regions and sharptail and sage grouse <br />portions of Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska. <br />northern greater prairie chicken is persisting in sizable <br />in a few prairie regions, particularly in Kansas, but is <br /> <br />in <br />The <br />numbers <br /> <br />-16- <br />